The Sunday Brunch: Meet The Democrats For Attorney General.

LEVITTOWN — It’s a rainy and cold Saturday morning in suburban Philadelphia. And Kathleen Kane is standing on the bed of a precariously balanced trailer.

She’s ripping into a state House proposal requiring women seeking an abortion to first undergo a mandatory ultrasound examination. The bill is stalled but it’s become a Democratic tentpole issue this year.

The proposal, she tells the mostly female crowd of Democrats, is little more than “an illegal search and seizure” that would give drug dealers greater rights than women. Despite the chill and the insistent rain, the audience cheers loudly.

Leading to the April 24 primary, Kane and her rival for the Democratic nomination for attorney general — former Bucks County Congressman Patrick Murphy — have been wooing Democratic voters with very distinct messages.

For Kane, 45, that’s meant punching up her resume as an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County. In the three decades that the attorney general’s office has been an elected post, voters have picked prosecutors — almost all male and all of them Republican — to be the state’s top prosecutor.

“For the past 32 years, the office has gone to the frontline law and order candidate,” she said. “That’s what the voters want. It’s what they deserve.”

For Murphy, 38, who represented Bucks County in Congress from 2006 to 2010, it’s meant positioning himself as a different kind of candidate. He’s focusing on his experience as an Army veteran and as a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

He says he also wants to use the post as a bully pulpit to take a stand on policy issues affecting taxpayers.

“I think the attorney general can be much more aggressive when it comes to protecting our children, can be much more aggressive when it comes to consumer protection and can be much more aggressive when it comes to fighting the big fights and being an active attorney general and make a real difference in people’s lives,” he said.

He said he’d do that, for instance, by holding people who “knowingly and intentionally” pollute personally responsible beyond just a fine.

Democrats believe they have a good chance of capturing the office, which is an open seat this fall. Former federal prosecutor Linda Kelly is serving the final months of now-Gov. Tom Corbett’s term after accepting the job on condition she not seek a full term.

The primary winner will face Republican David Freed, the district attorney of Cumberland County. Freed, 41, is the GOP-endorsed candidate and does not have a primary challenger.

In separate interviews, Kane and Murphy are similar on policy issues but diverge on the fine print.

Both candidates were sharply critical of Corbett’s decision, while attorney general, to use a grand jury to conduct the investigation that led to the filing of scores of child sexual abuse charges against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

“Every child counts,” Kane said, discounting Corbett’s claim that it was safer to wait and bundle the cases against Sandusky rather than acting more quickly but risk losing out on a single abuse case. “A sexually violent crime against one child is protected under the law. Your job is to make sure every single person is protected, not your office.”

Corbett has fended off such criticism in the past, arguing that the grand jury was the best way to proceed against Sandusky. If the state pursued a single case and lost, he has argued, returning to charge Sandusky for other offenses would look like a malicious prosecution.

Murphy called for greater coordination between law enforcement and for technological innovations that would allow for more efficient prosecutions of accused sex offenders.

“I have been very critical that we were not aggressive enough in that case,” he said.

Both were critical of Corbett’s handling of the “Bonusgate” investigation that’s resulted in jail time for two former and one sitting lawmaker over the use of tax dollars for politics. Both said they’d work to keep politics out of the office. Corbett came under fire for what his critics said was a partisan investigation that disproportionately targeted Democrats.

In all, 25 people were charged and 21 have been convicted in connection with the long-running probe. Two Democratic lawmakers — former Minority Whip Mike Veon of Beaver County and current Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, were convicted. Veon is currently serving his sentence. DeWeese is to be sentenced April 24.

On the Republican side, former House Speaker John M. Perzel of Philadelphia and ex-state Rep. Brett Feese of Lycoming County received jail time. Still to be tried is former state Democratic Rep. Steve Stetler of York.

Like Kane, Murphy opposes the stalled mandatory ultrasound bill sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren. Unlike Kane, however, he said he would not defend the law if it’s challenged in court — which is one of the attorney general’s responsibilities under state law.

Kane disagreed with that approach, saying that, defending the law is part of the job. However, in addition to enforcing state law, she said, the attorney general has an obligation to tell lawmakers when they’ve crossed the line.

“The attorney general will have to stand up and tell the commonwealth that what you are doing is a complete violation of the constitutional rights of the women of Pennsylvania,” she said.

Republican Freed said in an interview he’ll take up the legislative cudgel on issues that directly affect his office, but for the most part he’s sticking to the core duties of the job: prosecuting criminals, pursuing consumer protection cases and public corruption.

If there are public policy issues that are “proper to my office, you’ll see me talking about it,” he said.

As of March 5, Kane had a large cash advantage over Murphy, with nearly $2 million in her campaign account, compared to Murphy’s nearly $1.2 million, records showed.

The bulk of Kane’s money, about $1.75 million, came from loans to her campaign from her husband and family. She reported raising $58,477 between Jan. 2 and March 5, lagging Murphy’s $305,401 haul during the same time period.

Kane shrugged off the contribution gap, arguing that Murphy’s years in Congress had given him access to a network of donors.

Murphy appeared confident about his ability to close the cash gap with Kane, focusing instead on the $500 he said she’d donated to Corbett’s 2008 re-election campaign. Kane said she and her husband had given “tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates” over the years.

Current Comments

I thought this was a race for AG not a Judge. These comments make her unsuitable for the job as Ag they enforce not interpret the law.

Posted By: Ted Sierocinski | Apr 26, 2012 12:17:13 AM

The political endorsements each candidate got are just payback for their endorsements of Obama and Clinton in 2008 so we can discount them.
I'm leaning towards Murphy. And could Kane explain her contribution to Corbett, our worst governor in long time.

Posted By: john franz | Apr 17, 2012 12:47:47 PM

Leave A Comment

NOTE: Please express your opinions in a civil and respectful manner. Insensitive, inflammatory and derogatory comments will be removed at our discretion.